Two Zorki's, One Test Roll

The Soviet-era Zorki 4K camera shown here represents that thing I said I absolutely wouldn't do. An impulse purchase of a camera that's close enough to one I already have, making it entirely surplus to requirements. Because I'm not a camera collector, or so I keep telling myself.

As is so often the case though, it was the diminutive price of the thing that caught me off guard. That and a moment of weakness when the beloved FED was away for it's well-earned 70 year service. I was missing the heft and clunk of a mid-century Soviet Rangefinder, who wouldn't! Of course none of this explains why for a short period of time I had two Zorki 4K's. Oh deary dear!...

The image on the left goes some way to explaining why. The one disappointment of this otherwise fully operational £12 camera was a mightily scratched Jupiter 8 lens. Not to the point of being unusable, but certainly optically compromised and something I was never going to be happy with. The lens was also out of adjustment in some way that I've yet to fully understand. Something to do with the alloy shim that separates the focussing body from the optics which meant one of the rings didn't line up with the markings.

So I was on the lookout for a replacement Jupiter 8 50mm lens, or even better an inexpensive Jupiter 12 35mm lens. The 50mm lens is regarded as being pretty good optically, with good clean examples to be had for around £30 so nothing to break the bank. The 35mm examples on the other hand are regarded as being a bit average, but their relative rarity/desirability pushes the price up to around £100! So a Jupiter 8 it is then...

My preferred developers have a whole bunch of Vintage Camera relics gathering dust in their shop, for display, but no reasonable offer refused. After a good rummage in the cabinet we found a nice clean Jupiter 8 lens (above), safely attached to another Zorki 4K. A very reasonable deal was struck, a cheap test roll purchased, I now needed to decide which camera body would be the keeper.

Here’s some shots from the test roll with this second camera, which seemed slightly more accurate to me at the 1s Shutter Speed when tested side by side. I must say that this lens is a good deal better (and faster) than the Industar 10, so whilst the FED will remain my principal camera, if only because of the sheer convenience of the collapsible lens, this Zorki will make a good alternative when I'm happy to carry a heavier lump around and want better image quality.

The other Zorki with scratched lens has now been returned to the display cabinet, because whilst I don't particularly need a second Soviet Rangefinder, I certainly don't want two…